Changing of the Guard at Holiday Valley

After 35 years of working for Eaton’s Cooper Industries in Olean, Mike Nenno will be embarking on a new adventure — and what better place for adventure than Holiday Valley.

As of Sept. 8, Nenno will be Holiday Valley’s full-time, terrain parks and events manager and he’s looking forward to starting his new job.

Nenno said, “It will be a new adventure and I look forward to the challenges in my new career, and I’m thankful for the great friendships I’ve made at Cooper.”

Nenno is no stranger to the slopes of Holiday Valley. He’s worked with the Snowsports team and has been involved with the Alpine racing programs for 20-plus years on a part-time basis.

He said, “At first I was a coach and coached ski racing, and then the last eight years I’ve been the event coordinator, mainly out of the Training Center for their events.”

You’ll be seeing a lot of Nenno off and on the slopes starting this fall. In his new position, he will be responsible for design, construction and maintenance of the terrain parks. He’ll also provide leadership to the terrain park crew and coordinate events and other projects throughout the year.

A few exciting plans are in the works for the coming season, according to Nenno.

This year, terrain parks will be located on Fiddler’s Elbow, Foxfire and Moonshadow, as well as at the base of the Mardi Gras chair. The children’s learning Riglet Park, with mini versions of adult-sized features, is positioned at the base of School Haus.

“In the past, we’ve always have had Snoozer as part of the terrain park, but this year Snoozer is not going to have any terrain park features on it. We’re moving what was on Snoozer over to Fiddlers Elbow,” he explained.

Moonshadow is considered a terrain park, but is actually set up as a skier bordercross course.

“From all the surveys we did this year, the most popular park that we have is Moonshadow,” said Nenno. “It’s just so much fun, because it’s all banked turns and little rolls and little jumps, and you see kids from the Rangers all the way up to elite kids that just have a ball going through there.”

Nenno said they have been collecting feedback about the terrain parks and “are taking all that feedback to design and develop parks that are user friendly for all levels.”

Eager to start a new professional chapter at Holiday Valley, Nenno said, “I think it’s a great place. I’ve worked there 20-plus years part time and I’ve always enjoyed working there in the outdoors. After 35 years in the same job, it will be a change and I look forward to a new experience.”